Hangin' in Khecheperi for a Third Day

Another pair of guests headed out on my third day at the guest house. This was a French couple, Greg and Michelle. Greg was on his second visit to the guest. He had been there 5 years before and had spent some time exploring the region. This time he had brought his wife and they were spending a couple of weeks in Sikkim. They were going to go for a bit of a circuit for three days before returning to Sonam's and going on a three trek with Sonam to another mountain town. This day they were off to hike to Yuksam, the town across the valley and the next in the hiking/trekking circuit in West Sikkim around the towns and villages of the area. They were the second set of people to do this hike, and I had to admit that I was interested in doing it myself. I had come to Sikkim more or less on a lark. It was unplanned and I hadn't even known what I could or would do here. As such, I had brought all my stuff with me. This was a problem because all my stuff together is fairly heavy. I wanted to do the hike, but I also knew it would take about four to five hours for someone in good condition, so for me it might take 6 or seven. And I would have to carry all that stuff with me. Or I might be able to leave it at Sonam's and return another day, but I wasn't sure I wanted to do that. But I had another day to think about it. In the meantime, we bid adieu to Greg and Michelle.

As well, the day had dawned much clearer and the mountains in the distance could be seen. These were mountains of the Himalaya (and it is apparently not supposed to be with an “s” on the end as the part of the word “-laya” is already plural), and the one that could be viewed was called Mt. Kabru or something. But it made a nice sight that morning.

Later that morning, Karen came by and said she was headed down to a village called Thingling. She wanted to buy the ingredients for an Israeli dish called Shukshuka that she was going to make later. A number of us decided to go with her. So we headed off past the monastery at near the guest houses and down the mountain. It was a loooong way down. We had been told it was about 20 minutes. It was much longer than that. Damn these mountain people who climb like mountain goats. They forget that we tenderfeet aren't used to all the climbing and we don't do so nearly as fast or as well. But the views were quite nice and we saw interesting little things along the way.

When we got to the village, it seemed to be the standard sort of little mountain village in the area, sitting there on the side of the mountain. And it had this store in the center with vegetables and eggs and chocolate and other goods. I don't know how it keeps stocked. Probably the people around the area bring their produce in and sell it to the store, which then turns around and sells it to the people who need it. The chocolate, of course, comes from elsewhere.

I particularly liked the house in the village that had an old, traditional part, a newer part, and a satellite dish. I guess they really like their Discovery Channel around here.

Then it was the long hike back up the mountain to the guest houses.

Once we arrived back at the guest house, one of the other guests, a French Canadian named Robin had decided to hike the next day to the town of Yuksam. Having been intrigued by the idea myself, I asked him if he wanted any company. He said he would be glad of the company and so I decided that I would make the trek. I didn't know how I would handle it, whether my back had reached the point where it would be okay with a hike like that, and probably with all my stuff to carry as well. But I decided there was no time like the present to find out. And I figured it would be a beautiful hike down across and up the valley. It was something that I didn't want to miss. And I would also be able to see if there was any chance I could handle a trip in Nepal. One of the other guests, Kenichi (from Japan) decided that he would accompany us as well and so it was going to be a threesome the next. Then we found out that a whole bunch of other people would be heading away from the guest houses as well. Many would be going back to Darjeeling and points beyond. The guest houses were going to have lots of space the next night.

(Karen's shukshuka was delicious.)